void --> spirit

we stare into the void & feel the void staring back

from that perspective, there is no truth or untruth, nothing matters or doesn't, is or isn't

there's just us, the void, & the staring

stuck there, we resort to nihilism or anarchy

returning, but unwilling to fully reengage this world, we remain stuck in existential crisis

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affirmations help restore a sense of belonging

here I am (creation)

the void, or who knows what, awaits (death)

I ain't there yet (life)

I'm here (being), in an environment (world)

my being assumes forms (identity)

other beings assume forms similar (commonality) & different (diversity) to my own & each other

my energies (thoughts, feelings, actions) are not me, but they are mine (accountability)

to the extent I don't own them, they own me (humility)

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when I own energies with respect, I set them free

when I refuse to own them, or try to own them disrespectfully, I retrap them within the energy field of my being

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respect is recognition that another is no more or less deserving of respect than I

its circularity is its virtue (O)

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my failure to respect another stems from my failure to respect energies within me: when I behold a particular energy (spirit) active in another, that energy's disrespected sibling within me reverberates, painfully

is it any wonder these derelict energies haunt me like ghosts

they are spirits deserving of respect

all the moreso given how they suffer trapped in a being that disowned them but won't respect them, relegating them to shadow instead of setting them free

is it any wonder that you, my spirit, restlessly seek the disowned, telling me you are venturing off to set them free, when you just wanna join them a while, jostling & gabbing & battling & singing in collectively imagined taverns

is it any wonder I'm jealous, watching from atop the castle wall

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staring into the void helps us rediscover & respect spirits we've disowned

because from that perspective, there is no owned or disowned, active or inactive, better or worse

there's just void, staring, and spirits

the void, and the staring, can (and will) wait

we're here together in the meantime, which we call a lifetime

let's respect each other & get on with living